Acid Rain in Europe: Counting the cost (Earthscan Library Collection: International Environmental Governance Set Book 1)

Description

'I am delighted to welcome the publication of this important book. At last there is an authoritative volume which really addresses the acid rain issue from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating its scientific and economic dimensions, by quantifying the benefits of abatement strategies.' Professor Nigel Bell, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. 'This book describes a project that has been instrumental for the economic evaluation of air pollution damage in Europe carried out in the framework of the UN/ ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. It presents the state of the art, but is written in a way that makes the material accessible to non-experts. The book will no doubt influence the policy debate for air pollution abatement strategies in Europe, and provide important impetus for the preparation of new UN/ ECE protocols and further steps to reduce acidification and ground-level ozone in Europe.' Henning Wuester, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The environmental impacts of acid rain: on human health, on buildings and materials, on forests, freshwaters, crops and biodiversity and on global warming have been well-documented. Less is known about the extent and economic costs of these impacts. This book describes the first major implementation of an integrated scientific and economic assessment of the consequences of acid rain. It provides an extensive data review and examines how this unique approach to assessment modelling can be can be used to calculate an acidification cost per unit of pollutant in monetary terms. Part One focuses on the methodological issues of scientific measurement of acidification, dose-response relationships and economic approaches to acidification control. Part Two looks at the environmental impacts and economic consequences of acidification. Affected environmental media and human health are investigated in separate chapters, each including both scientific and economic analyses. Part Th